Invitations to Come

Well, we’ve made it.  You’ve made it.  Today, we finish John’s Revelation.  For some of you, 9 months is too long.  For others, 9 years wouldn’t be long enough.  For most of you, I pray this study and the time it took has been just right.

 

On that note, I hope you have been encouraged during this study.  I hope you’ve been encouraged to study all of God’s Word, even the intimidating books.  I hope you’ve been encouraged to find out that with a little time and effort, you can understand God’s Word, even the most difficult texts.  Finally, I hope you’ve been encouraged in that we don’t have to know the answer to every question.  We don’t have to know the meaning behind every symbol.  It’s ok that some questions go unanswered for now.

 

Our final message in Revelation is entitled, “Invitations to Come.”  Notice I said “invitations.”  That is plural.  This morning, we’ll see three.

 

Notice also that all three invitations are to come.  We see that word or some form of it 6 times this morning: 12, 17 x3, and 20 x2.

 

This morning, I want you to see an invitation to Jesus, an invitation to the Lost, and an invitation to the Saved.

 

 

1. An Invitation to Jesus to Come Again, Revelation 22:16-17a

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”  17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”

 

In verse 16, Jesus is speaking, and He says to John that He has sent His angel to testify to him these things in the churches.  We have seen that in Revelation 2-3.  Through John’s pen, Jesus spoke to those 7 churches in modern-day Turkey.

 

Jesus then said He was the beginning and the offspring of David. How can that be?  He is testifying that because He is God, He is the source of David’s lineage, and because He is man, He came from the line of David.  The Morning Star speaks to Him being a new beginning from Orthodox Judaism.

 

Then in verse 17, there is His invitation.  The Holy Spirit and the bride, the Church, invite Jesus to come again, and Jesus said He’s coming quickly in verse 12 and verse 20.

 

I pray that you are extending that invitation to Jesus even as we speak.  That’s what Paul did in 1 Corinthians 16:22.

 

22 If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!

 

 

2. An Invitation to the Lost to Come to Jesus, Revelation 22:17b

And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. 

 

The rest of verse 17 is an invitation to the Lost to be saved.  Jesus described your lack of salvation as one who thirsts, and if you’re lost this morning, you know what exactly what He is saying.

 

You are restless.  You are not at peace.  You are longing for something beyond yourself.  You’re thirsty, and you’ve tried everything in the world to satisfy your thirst but to no avail.

 

You’ve tried money, but there’s always more to be had.  You’ve tried success or popularity, but the world will turn on you just as fast as they turned to you.  You’ve tried sex, but you’re still empty. 

 

Jesus invites you to come to the water of life and drink freely.  We’ve seen that idea in the previous Sundays.  See 22:1 and 21:6. 

 

1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

 

6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.

 

However, as I mentioned last Sunday, this idea of salvation in Jesus being living water comes from John 4.

 

1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.  5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.  7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.  9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.  10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”  11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”  13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

 

If you’re lost this morning without Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I invite you to come this morning to Him as living water and drink freely and be saved from you sins. 

 

 

3. An Invitation to the Saved to Come to God’s Word, Revelation 22:10-15, 18-21

10 And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”  12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”  14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie…18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.  20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”  Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!  21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

 

Our last invitation this morning is for the Saved, my brothers and sisters in Christ, and it is to come to God’s Word.  First, come to God’s Word and know it.

 

In verse 10, the angel said to John not to seal the words of the prophecy of this book.  In other words, don’t hide it but know it.

 

Brothers and sisters, are you effectively sealing God’s Word by not reading it, not studying it, not memorizing it, not meditating on it?  Come to God’s Word and know it.

 

When he says at the end of verse 10 that the time is at hand, that is the time of judgment.  At that time, there will be no turning back.  There will be no turning back for the bad and no turning back for the good. 

 

At the time of judgement, the unjust will remain, and the filthy will remain.  The righteous will remain, and the holy will remain. 

 

Not only are the Saved invited to come to God’s Word and know it, but also, come to God’s Word and obey it.  In verse 12, Jesus says there will be a rewarding for the righteous. 

 

The righteous in verse 14 are said to do His commandments and partake of the tree of life.  Your translation may say the righteous have washed their robes.  The thought is in the blood of the Lamb. 

 

This rewarding of the righteous is the judgement seat of Christ and referenced in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 and 2 Corinthians 5:10.

 

11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

 

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

 

And those who haven’t trusted in Christ and their lives don’t reflect that choice, they will not have a place in heaven but will be outside and separated from Christ.  Here, they are identified as dogs, sorcerers, sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, and those who are constantly lying.

 

Finally, in verses 18-21, there is an invitation for Saved to come to God’s Word and trust it.  You can trust, and you don’t need to add to it or take away from it.  It has been divinely penned and divinely preserved.  Trust it.  Come Lord Jesus.  Grace to you.  Amen!